What it’s all about

I am a librarian. I love to organize information and classify by subject heading. Books are the main diet of my day. I faithfully update my Goodreads account and visit my local library at least once a week.

I discovered my passion for building future readers when I was a librarian at an inner city library. I was trained to help model reading to parents and caregivers to ensure that every child is indeed ready to read when they get to school.

What I discovered is reading is a routine that needs to start at birth. The book we share with our child matters. The story needs to engage them, the pictures must complement the text and above all the kids should learn from each book they read (without knowing it!) Parents have the ability to help guide their children into choosing books that will enrich their reading experience while feeding their love for the written word.

Libraries across the country hold workshops and story times to demonstrate these skills. I want to supplement the hard work of these passionate people and give parents the tools they need to help build readers in their homes.

We know reading is critical to school success. Not all kids are entering kindergarten with the same skill set and many are left behind. We ask parents to read to their kids but we don’t help them find books that are engaging and educational.

My goal with this book review site is to help parents select books for their kids that will establish a love of reading and teach them the important pre-reading skills they need when they enter school.

I will review books for birth through age 6. I am an amazon affiliate so you will be able to find books directly from each review. With every review a parent will walk away with activities and questions to engage their children more fully in the books they read. I am not going to give a star rating for the books, but instead highlight the skills I find present in each book, the quality of pictures and the diversity of the book.

In addition I will publish posts on current information about literacy and tips for parents to expand on the work they do with their children in reading. I hope to expand into reading lists in the future by age, classics every child should have in his or her personal library, and possibly even personalized reading lists tailored for your child!

Learning to read isn’t simply “unlocking the code” as you may have heard. It is a long process beginning at birth assisting children with the pre-skills they need to prepare themselves to become independent and life long readers.

I have seen the process work with my own children. The most proud each of my three children have felt is when they read a book on their own for the first time.

I can’t wait to start this journey to reading with you as you help build future readers in your family!